We are a family of 3 intending to rent cars in the UK and France for a three week trip.
We will need one for Wales, last week in May, to be rented in Cardiff and dropped off in Manchester. Then we're flying to Perpignan where the plan is to rent one for 2 1/2 weeks to look around the region while we stay at an apartment in Ceret, close to the Spanish border.
While in Ceret we want to have a brief look at northern Spain and Barcelona.
Around June 18 we will fly back from Perpignan to Manchester to hot foot it back to Cardiff for our return flight the next day.
Questions are:
1. It seemed that cheapest rentals are in the UK, followed by France, then Spain, but recently it seems rentals may be cheaper in Spain, so does anyone know of a rental company that they would recommend, whether Spain or France? We are looking for a small car.
2. We've heard white knuckle nightmare stories of driving around Barcelona - any confirmations?
3. Any recommendations for car rental in the UK?
All advice gratefully received.
We are coming from Canada (Victoria)
Edited by Pugugly on 23/06/2008 at 19:13
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It'll be too late to change for you but it seems your destination is really Perpignan. So why travel via Cardiff and then Manchester? Depending on time of day and the day of the week the Cardiff/Manchester/Cardiff journey can take quite a while with long delays possible on the M5/M6. I hate the section of the M6 between J14-J16 with accidents to frequent. I saw some silly driving today - including a woman texting at 90mph!
If time permits you might want to consider the train from Cardiff to Manchester and back. It won't be cheap but neither will car hire with one way hire. Adult tickets will be about £60 each and children half that. And it's return.
Normal open returns bought in advance with a credit card and picked up at the station. The Cardiff/Manchester route is not a fast train line but more predictable. And I'd not go to Manchester Piccadilly - maybe hop off at Wilmslow or Stockport and taxi it to the airport. For me it's about £11 to the airport from the Stockport vicinity.
The last time I hired in Europe (near Milan) we used Holiday Auto. They were cheaper and offered a cheaper accident damage package if it was needed. And we needed it (car a write off) and after initially paying the excess I got it back via the Holiday Auto cover.
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thanks, rtj70 . We fly to and from Cardiff, as there was a good deal on the ticket and we preferred not to deal with Heathrow. The best flights we could find to and from Perpignon were from Manchester, which worked for the first part of the trip, since we intended to drive around Wales before leaving for Perpignon - the only seeming down side being that we had to drop the car off in Manchester after renting from Cardiff, but I was going on the presumption that the penalty for that would not be nearly as much as the train fare. In Canada there is often no particular penalty for one way hires.
Thanks for your other tips re: the train to Manchester from Cardiff, and the hire company in Italy.
I'll also look into carhire 3000 - thanks volcane.
Edited by wildcolonial on 19/03/2008 at 04:09
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Holiday Auto are also effectively a broker. Our car it Italy was with Hertz.
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Try carhire3000, they are a broker. I have booked with them on 3 occasions and was very happy with the service and price.
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Have used Holiday Autos in the past and they have organized cars with Hertz,National and Europcar-never had any problems.Hertz tend to have longish queues when you collect your car-I've never had more than one person in front of me when collecting from the other suppliers;a tip,leave the others to collect the luggage when the plane lands-get yourself to the front of the queue at the car-hire desk.
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I hire cars a lot, in Europe not UK. I always get a good deal by searching www.travelsupermarket.com (No personal connection!) I have also had very keen deals in Spain thru a firm called Crown Auriga. Let me also mention insurance4carhire.com who provide day-by-day or annual cover for the CDW excess. I pay £59 a year to cover the CDW on all hires I make in Europe . On a one week rental in Germany last year a large major company wanted 30 euros a DAY for this cover!
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Let me also mention insurance4carhire.com who provide day-by-day or annual cover for the CDW excess
I second that, and the annual policy can be a bargain even if you only rent for a few days. Most policies: either exclude damage to the roof and undercarriage of the car, and windows and tyres; or they impose heavy charges to remove that liability.
If you are hiring away from home (as they state "Not valid if vehicle is rented from a location within 150km of usual residence "), then their policy is well worth it for the peace of mind it brings. www.insurance4carhire.com/ "covers you not only for the total amount of Excess for which you are liable if the car is damaged or stolen, but also for damage to the roof and undercarriage of the car, and windows and tyres. "
The other route is to go via www.holidayautos.co.uk/ ( or via parent company www.lastminute.com/ ). They also offer good prices to remove your excess liability.
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surely the cheapest option with less hassel would be National express from Cardiff to Manchester,or any other coach firm, some journey's booked early enough go from £1.50, according to some coaches adverts Ive seen-never used though
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National Express is fine if it's direct - I took one to Heathrow from Wolverhampton - took 6 hrs (11.00pm - 5.00am) with all the other pickups but cost £19 return - never again - I will go Manchester and leave car.
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You mentioned that one way fees are not usual in Canada.
Be aware that one way fees are very usual in Europe, and can be substantial. One ways across borders are all but impossible.
I rent a lot and pay with my own money. In my experience, there isn't a simple 'x company is always cheaper' answer. You need to do a lot of research, playing web sites, and you will find an astonishing variation in the quotes.
Sometimes (not every time) the cheapest deals are on the links from airlines. Eg, the Hertz link from the Ryanair site or the Europcar link from easyjet. If you use those links (and your pick up and drop off are at airports that the linked airline services) you don't pay a one way fee.
As for Barcelona. I rode a motorbike there. I would not like to repeat it. Additionally, signposting is hopeless - you'd need a sat nav unit with you. The train service around Barcelona is good - I'd suggest using that.
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There is one company which do one way rentals in UK without penalty.
I believe it is Enterprise.
If you have family in UK ask them to ring round majors for you.
I wanted to hire from Ncle to stansted to fly to New York and return 3 weeks later. Was offered £40 for mondeo 1 day hire with £150 drop off,
Additionally they wanted same drop off fee for returning car back to Newcastle .
They did not get my business.
Plans changed and flew from Ncle to Hrow was cheaper!!!!
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I can see why a Canadian thinks Cardiff to Manchester is no distance at all...
I wouldn't catch a coach if you paid me £100. I too would train from Cardiff to Manchester (Stockport); if you book in advance www.thetrainline.co.uk it probably won't be at all expensive, but beware they will be non-flexible tickets.
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Thanks again for all the advice.
It seems that, going through the Trainline, it would cost £120 for the three of us (2 adults and a 14 yr old) to go from Manchester to Cardiif on June 18th, one way.
I wouldn't be surprised if a car could be rented for something similar, but it would be more complicated and I'm guessing probably not that nice a drive.
We arrive Cardiff May 22nd and depart Manchester for Perpignan May 30th and take a leisurely trip around Wales in between.
Something I'm not looking forward to is trying to book hotel rooms all around Wales, never having been anywhere in Wales but the Gower peninsula. I am imagining they are scarce and expensive - or am I wrong?
I would love to think we could just head off into the blue yonder there with no reservations and trust that we will "find something" as we do here in western Canada, or the western USA, for that matter.
It's hard to imagine where we will want to spend more time and so how to schedule hotels stops.
Could anyone give me some perspective on that - is it even thinkable not to book ahead?
Edited by wildcolonial on 20/03/2008 at 06:47
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You can fly from Cardiff Airport to RAF Valley (or as it likes to be known Anglesey airport) for around £20.00 each. The Airport has Hire Car facilities (if nit on site in nearby Holyhead) or you can train it to Manchester Airport.
www.highlandairways.co.uk/cgi-bin/airkiosk/I7/1810...N
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Car rental
[1] just had a great experience with Avis (in Germany). They were way cheaper than all other options US$50 per day for a brand new, large (by European standards) Ford Galaxy minivan.
[2] don't get a car that is too small. You won't be able to fit even 1 suitcase into the smallest hire cars. At Milan airport I saw a party of 4 adults with 4 suitcases staring forlornly at their Fiat Panda rental, wondering what to do.
Accommodation in Wales
Personally, I would make a conservative route plan and pre-book accommodation. Bear in mind that average point to point speeds will be very low (30 mph?) depending on how much you like going off the beaten track.
Route Planning
I use maps.google.co.uk and www.viamichelin.com a.o. Both have integrated accommodation searches. E.g. you can search google maps for "B&B near snowdonia" and the user star-rated results will appear on the map.
Scenic areas in Wales
My Ordinance Survey book Britain on Backroads (1985 o.o.p.) lists the following scenic areas for touring:
Pembrokeshire
Brecon Beacons and Black Mountains
Mid-Wales [Aberystwyth - Newtown]
Cadair Idris and Lake Efyrnwy
Bala and Harlach
Lleyn and Snowdon
Blaenau Ffestiniog and the Conwy Valley
Anglesey and the Menai Strait
Edited by Billy Whizz on 20/03/2008 at 08:02
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If you have trouble with accomodation head for the local tourist office-they not only have lists but will phone around on your behalf.
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I use 'insurance4carhire.com' for worldwide rental CDW protection As some excess charges are greater then £500 then I would not travel without such protection. I also use travel market web site previously mentioned to find the best deals. Regards Peter
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If you want specific advice on some good B&Bs in Wales - I've stayed in a few over the years.
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Thanks for all the help. We just got back from Cardiff a couple of days ago and looking back over the advice I got here, I benefited from much of it. I did go with Holiday car rentals both for Wales and France and it worked out very well. We got a small Peugeot in Wales and an Opel Zafira in France.
We took the train down from Manchester to Cardiff and really enjoyed that 3 1/2 hours much more than if we had driven it, I would imagine.
Driving in Wales was challenge at first due not only to being on the other side of the road but also in unaccustomed tight lane widths, with the additional factor of stone walls right at the edge of the lane often with no shoulders. This was particularly true of the Gower Peninsula - 40 mph never felt so fast. I have never before thought the posted limit was actually too fast!
The scenery in the Gower was hard to leave but when we did, we went up the West and over near Snowdon to Llangollen, where the local tourist information came through in a big way and found us some great accommodation. I had forgotten that they would do this, but see that I was was told here in this thread.
France was totally and refreshingly different, of course, and it turned out that the villages we had chosen to stay in (for 1 week each) could not have been better chosen - the first being Ceret, down near the Spanish border and the second Caunes de Minervois. We really became almost blassé about seeing yet another incredibly picturesque medieval village with impossibly (sometimes literally) narrow streets and amazing old churches/abbeys/viaducts and great wine and cheese selling for near nothing.
So, thanks again to all who helped.
Russell
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